.. Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Sudan
project india completed - 12.12.2011
Dear Friends,
We are very excited to share with you the completion of our latest
Monyati initiative in Uttar Pradesh India. We constructed five new
classrooms, manufactured 100 school benches, provided 16 used laptops
and funded student sponsorship for a basic school. As always we
traveled on-site to document the project implementation and completion.
I was joined by 12 beautiful volunteers from 10 different
nationalities. Please download our presentation to read more about this
project and enjoy the below images from our trip.
We are looking forward to hear your feedback!
Your sincerely,
On behalf of the Monyati Team...
Monja Wolf
(Please click on image to enlarge) Photography by Amelia Johnson
We have great news: our project in Mexico is successfully completed. We constructed water cisterns in the Calakmul biosphere reserve in Campeche Mexico. The cisterns allow families to store sufficient water supplies during the dry months. Please download our
presentation to read all about this project and enjoy the below images
from our trip.
We would love to hear your feedback or any suggestions
you may.
Yours sincerely,
On behalf of the Monyati Team...
Monja Wolf
Only one week after the completion of our commitment in Ethiopia I am
excited to share the news that our project in Sudan is complete as well. Together with two volunteers from the UAE we took off to Khartoum to support an orphanage and riding school for children with special needs. Please have a look at the attached presentation...it will tell you all about our latest commitment!
As always we value your feedback and any suggestions you may have!
With gratitude, On behalf of the Monyati team...
Monja Wolf
With great pleasure I would like to announce the completion of our hand-dug water well in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
Please download the below presentation to read about the project
details and enjoy the images from our trip to Ethiopia. As always
we traveled on-site to overlook the construction as well.
With gratitude,
On behalf of the Monyati Team...
Monja Wolf
We successfully completed another initiative -- building low-cost houses in the favela communities of Sao Paulo.
I
am pleased to share the below presentation with you which will give you
a full brief about this project. It was an incredible and very
successful initiative. We took a trip down to Brazil, visited the
beneficiary families in their old homes and constructed their new
houses together with the families and 600 volunteers. Enjoy reading the
presentation.
I’m delighted to share the latest Monyati Initiative with you!
This
time we have been active in Bangladesh. The report below is about my
work with Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Organization in Dhaka. I’m
exciting to share the latest innovative social development concepts
with you and as the appointed Yunus Fellow for the Middle East to
represent Muhammad Yunus interests in the region.
We are already looking forward to hear your feedback and till then...happy reading!
It gives me great pleasure to announce the completion of Project Kashmir.
The renovation of the vocational training center is complete and the
sewing machines have been delivered. Everything is set and ready for
the girls to begin their education. To ensure your donations were properly spent, I again traveled
on-site, this time to Islamabad and Kashmir to monitor the deployment
our funds. This trip presented a special challenge due to safety
issues in this region. However, equipped with a veil so that I wouldn’t
be recognized as a foreigner, and together with my wonderful companion
Yesmin Wazir and her brother Nigel, we achieved a full success and
completion of our goal: 92 sewing machines delivered and installed for
the vocational training center in Kotli!
Our journey started in Islamabad. We changed the donations from
Dirhams to Rupees and then purchased the sewing machines in the capital
of Pakistan. Once the machines were loaded onto the truck, the 4 hour
long journey to Kashmir Kotli began. We trailed the truck for the
entire journey, doing our best to avoid any unnecessary attention and
reached Kotli in the evening. Unfortunately it was already dark when
we arrived and due to the pressing safety issues coupled with the
prospect of a midnight drive through winding mountain roads and ambush
patrols we were forced to keep our stay as short as possible.
The sewing course will start once the interviews with the girls are
complete. The aim is to offer 6 month-long sewing courses to girls
between 15 to 25 years of age. They will go through a filtration phase
before being able to join the education center. KD&RC has an
already existing database of underprivileged families and will approach
the children of this group. There will be two teachers and two classrooms with 15 students each.
The center will be linked with the Board of Kashmir, so that they
receive a formally accredited diploma upon successful completion of
their exam. They will attend school five times a week from 8.30am till
2pm and will have to do homework during the afternoon & evening.
Once they pass their exam each girl will get their own sewing machine.
This way they are enabled to set up their own small business unit. Thus
content of this course is not only sewing, but also additional skills
that they might require for business development and sustainability
(e.g. marketing/design). Yesmin will also arrange to link them to the
local design universities in Islamabad, so that they have the option to
further their career and support will be offered to link them to
relevant contacts and potential clients. The girls will not be charged any fees and will receive the
education free of charge so the selection criteria ensures that the
girls will be able to manage this new challenge and opportunity. In
order to create a sustainable concept, the girls will pay back each
months approximately 5 Dirham (about 1,3 US$ or 1 Euro) over a three
year period for the machines they will receive upon completion.
As always for my final note I would like to point out that any costs
and expenses that came up from my trip, such as flight, visa,
administration costs, etc were covered from the own pocket. Any
donation that is given to Monyati Initiatives is going directly into
the project so that not one penny is lost.
Thank you very much for your support! Without you we could never have accomplished this! Enjoy the pictures below and please share with us any kind of suggestions or new ideas. We would very much appreciate your feedback.
On behalf of the Monyati Team... Monja Wolf
(Please click on image to enlarge)
Image:
project nepal completed - 05.12.2009
Dear Friends,
Project Nepal is completed! We have delivered the heaters to the school & orphanage in Kathmandu Nepal and are very proud to share our trip with you through the attached pictures. Without you and your support this could have not be accomplished. Thank you very much!
Today, Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, most people living on less than $1000 a year. Almost 80% of the population still makes a living from agriculture. The rate of unemployment is almost 50% and poverty levels are rampant. Many children (mainly girls) are orphaned, abandoned, homeless and living on the streets. At every corner, on every street you will see young children sleeping outside, making the streets their home and sniffing drugs to escape the harsh reality of their life. Women with young babies are on the streets selling paper-souvenirs or begging for money just to survive. Children walk miles each day, eager to learn, attending schools that look more like open barns then a traditional school. The schools are deteriorated from time and lack of money to maintain them. Rain seeps in from the corners of the roofs and the cracks in the walls. What the western world would abandon as a building lost, children unite just appreciating having a roof over their head and the chance at an education.
This Nepalese charity takes care of those orphans and children from parents at risk, offering them an education and home to sleep. I had the opportunity to speak with all involved in this wonderful program, the founder, manager, teachers and children. It is such a well-organized organization (kids get also taught German by the way and are corresponding in German to their 'godparents' in Europe) and I'm very impressed by the steady growth and fulfillment of the founders-vision. This organization started with only 15 children in 2002 and they now have a proud number of 203 children. However their students have to study and live in freezing conditions without any heater during winter. During the winter season, in Katmandu temperatures fall easily below 0 Degrees Celsius, with an occasional snowfall. We have successfully bought and installed heaters for the children, so they may stay warm while attending class. These heaters will allow the children warmth during the cold season and hopefully help the children stay healthy enough to continue their education. With our help and the help of others, the children of Katmandu and other countries at risk will have a chance.
Our journey started in Kathmandu. We changed the donations from Dirhams to Nepalese Rupees and then purchased the space heaters and transported them to the school. As you can see on the pictures the surrounding area of the school is very poor and underdeveloped and entering the colorful school felt like a little 'oasis'. (You can see German writing on the boards. They even learn German!) Nevertheless the childrens' accommodation is extremely basic and sometimes up to 8 kids have to share one room. The children were very excited to have visitors and we were leaving with our hearts filled with joy, knowing that the project was successfully completed.
I would like to point out again that all expenses for this trip such as flights, hotel, visa and administration costs were covered from our own pocket. Any donations given went directly into the purchase of the heaters and gas cylinders.
I am extremely happy about the development of Monyati and want to thank you all once again....now enjoy the pictures!
